Tempest was so excited. Her parents had finally let her go exploring, she, along with her parents and brothers, lived near the edge of the SeaWing kingdom. I mean, yes, Tempest loved the small town she lived in, but sometimes it was just to much and she would often go for a fly to calm her mind.
But, the best part of getting to go out and explore in Tempest's opinion, was the fact that her oldest and dearest friend was going along for the ride too.
The dragonet in question was an IceWing. Though her scales were completely white, her tail spikes were a dark blue. A necklace with sapphires hung around her neck while a ring, also embedded with a sapphire, was on her horn.
"Uh, Tempest? Where are we going?" Ermine asked her companion as they kept on flying to StarClan knows where.
Tempest smiled and to face Ermine. "We're going to the rainforest," she replied and Ermine gave the SeaWing a questioning look in response.
"I've heard that it's really nice there, and I've also heard that Queen Glory is really nice." Tempest said, smiling warmly at Ermine, who gave a soft smile in response.
"How long will it take to get there?" Ermine asked while staring up at her with curious icy blue eyes.
The SeaWing dragonet thought for a moment before she finally answered her question.
"We're almost there, in fact, we've just arrived. So C'mon, let's land and start exploring!" she said, smiling and winking at Ermine. Tempest then quickly flew down and landed on the forest floor with Ermine landing right beside her, her white scales shimmering in the sunlight as she touched down onto the forest floor.
Tempest could only stare in shock at how absolutely gorgeous the rainforest looked in person. She turned to look over at Ermine, who looked around with couscous eyes. With a sigh, Tempest put a comforting wing around her friends shoulder and stared at her with a calm but sympathetic gaze.
"Hay, Ermine, relax. It's safe here, there's no need to worry, so c'mon, let's go explore," Ermine slowly nodded her head and shook out her wings. "Ok," she said in a more confident voice. "Let's go," the SeaWing dragonet cheered with delight and gave her friend a bright smile before running off in a random direction.
Ermine was a bit more calm then her friend was. She was also in aw of how beautiful the rainforest looked, but she was also extremely careful of her surroundings. What if something attacked them? What if there's dangerous plants? Or what if- Ermine sighed and took a deep breath, shaking her head and instead focused on the calming scent drifting from the leaves of the many trees that were all around them. The IceWing sighed once more and followed Tempest through the trees. "I wonder what Queen Glory is like?" she muttered to Tempest with a thoughtful look on her face. The SeaWing turned to stare at her with excitement shimmering in her aqua green eyes. "I dunno, I guess we'll find that out when we meet the RainWing queen," Tempest replied, shrugging her wings and staring up at the canopy of trees that let a few bursts of sunlight escape from the spindaly fingers of branches and leaves.
"Queen Glory's really nice," came a voice from somewhere close by. Ermine yelped and jumped about a foot in the air in surprises. "Who are you?" the IceWing dragonet asked while looking up at the NightWing with curious and nervous eyes. The NightWing smiled warmly at Ermine and replied in a cheery voice, "you're quite the couscous type, aren't you?" Ermine smiled sheepishly and lowered her gaze from the older dragon's dark green one. "My name's Secretkeeper, nice to meet you!" she said with a chearful smile on her face.
"My name's Ermine, and this is my best friend, Tempest," Ermine replied, giving Secretkeeper a small but kind smile.
Tempest smiled kindly up at Secretkeeper, she seemed like a nice dragon and Tempest felt like she could show them around the RainWing village. "It's very nice to meet you, Secretkeeper. Umm, if I may ask, do you know where we could find Queen Glory?"
"Yes, yes in fact I do," she replied almost immediately. "C'mon! I can take you there, just follow me!" Secretkeeper exclaimed with an excited flick of her tail.
I can't wait! We're going to meet Queen Glory of the RainWings and NightWings! Tempest thought excitedly to herself as as the three dragons came upon a small but nice-looking treehouse.
When they stepped into the small treehouse, they saw the queen speaking with a young-NightWing dragonet. "He seems different then other NightWings," Tempest quietly whispered to Secretkeeper. "By any chance is he a hybrid?" she whispered, looking up at Secretkeeper curiously as she spoke.
Secretkeeper smiled and nodded her head at Tempest's observation. "Yes, Peacemaker is a NightWing-RainWing hybrid," the Older NightWing explained, "his mother is a NightWing named Hope and his father was a RainWing named Snake. Sadly, Snake died from a chest disease a few moons before Peacemaker hatched." Secretkeeper replied, her eyes dimming slightly as she glanced over at the hybrid dragonet.
"Poor Peacemaker," Tempest quietly whispered, "that must be pretty hard, growing up with only one parent."
"Peacemaker, you have been chosen along with four NightWings who will be going to The Jade Mountain Academy." They heard Glory say to the young hybrid. Peacemaker nodded and the queen continued, "It begins in about three months from now," the NightWing dragonet nodded and bowed to Queen Glory. He then turned around and his blue eyes went wide when he noticed Tempest, Secretkeeper and Ermine, the ladder of whom was standing in the entrance of the treehouse. Peacemaker's blue eyes widened in shock and surprise when he saw Tempest and Ermine in particular.
"Hay, you two are newcomers!" he exclaimed excitedly. Tempest smiled and nodded her head in answer to his question. Peacemaker then turned his attention on Secretkeeper, who gave the younger dragon a friendly smile. "Oh, hello Secretkeeper!" he exclaimed, smiling brightly up at the older dragon. "Are you looking for Moon?" Peacemaker asked, blinking up at her and tilting his head to the side in curiosity.
Secretkeeper smiled kindly down at the NightWing-RainWing hybrid. And after a few moments of silence, she finally spoke, "no, I'm not looking for my daughter. I'm just showing these two lovely dragons around the village."
Peacemaker nodded and Tempest felt her heart begin to hammer rapidly In her chest as those dazzling blue eyes focussed on her. "We won't be staying for very long," she informed him with a small twitch of her tail. "We're just here to visit for a while," Tempest paused for a moment before something dawned don her and she quickly tried to fix her mistake. "Oh, I'm sorry, where are my manners, my name's Tempest, and the IceWing over there is Ermine," the SeaWing dragonet said, introducing both herself and Ermine.
"Thank you very much for helping Tempest and Ermine find there way around the forest," Queen Glory said with a kind smile detected at Secretkeeper. The NightWing dipped her head to Queen Glory. Then the queen turned to face both Tempest and Ermine. "It's a pleasure to meet you, Tempest and Ermine. I'm Queen Glory," she introduced herself before continuing, "I hope the fly here wasn't too long," Tempest smiled and shook her head and Glory spoke up once more, but this time, there was a questioning look in her eyes. "So," she began, "how exactly did you two meet each other? Your kingdoms are on opposite sides of Pyrrhia," she asked with curiosity shining in her eyes.
"I've known Ermine for five years, Queen Glory, but once you know her outside of her study habits, you see a different dragon," Tempest answered. "Yes, she can get annoying when she puts one hundred percent of her attention into her studies, but right now: she does so because it's what she does best."
"But why does she seam to keep her distance from both Peacemaker and Secretkeeper?" Glory inquired, blinking and tilting her head to the side. "Does Ermine always have her nose in a scroll? And pardon me for asking this but... doesn't her keeping her distance from others come off as a bit rude to others?" She inquired, glancing over at the IceWing dragonet, who was looking anywhere but at the two NightWings a crossed from from her.
"Because she's a hard worker," Tempest replied, turning back to look at Ermine as she spoke, Tempest turned back to Queen Glory and continued speaking, her eyes green shining as she told the RainWing queen about hrr oldest and dearest friend. "You're right, Ermine isn't really open with her feelings, but to say she is rude intentionally is far from the truth."
"What is it?" Ermine spoke, suddenly, causing Peacemaker to hesitate when she spoke to him. When he did not answer her, she looked back up at him. "Peacemaker, you've been looking up at me several times, what is it?"
Peacemaker hesitated, not wanting to annoy her further, but he decided to speak anyways.
"Do you… hate NightWings?" Peacemaker asked slowly, afraid he would offend Ermine.
This made Ermine pause, her expression seemed bewildered at the question.
"No, I don't hate you. Nor do I hate NightWings." She said, causing him to feel some relief at hearing this. "I… have a history with your tribe, and I do not particularly like specific members. But I do not hate NightWings for what the few have done to my family."
Peacemaker's head perked at hearing the last part of her statement.
Her family? What had certain NightWings done to Ermine's family?
Most likely seeing the questions all over his face, Ermine looked down at the ground.
"Just, know that I do not think poorly of you, Peacemaker," She said, her voice sincere. "It is strange interacting with a NightWing, I will not deny that, but I will not let my past experiences get in the way." Looking up, Peacemaker saw her blue eyes soften.
After the three dragons left Queen Glory's treehouse, they flew through the trees, heading towards the center of the village. After a few moment of flying in silence, the three dragons finally landed onto the forest floor. As they touched down onto the forest floor, Tempest caught sight of a smaller female NightWing with indigo-and-ebony scales.
Secretkeeper was the first to say anything once the dragonet had stopped in front of the small group. "Oh, why hello there, it's nice to see you Moonwatcher," Tempest blinked In confusion and stared down at the little NightWing.
"Is Moonwatcher your daughter?" Ermine chimed in from beside Tempest. The older NightWing shook her head and replied with a found smile. "No, this little one Is the daughter of my best friend, Nightdaze," Secretkeeper explained, answering the IceWing's question.